Review: Tempted by Her Outcast Viking

Tempted by Her Outcast Viking is the second book in Lucy Morris's Shieldmaiden Sisters series and features a classic Wendy catnip heroine - the sister who doesn't think she's much to look at but is just the sort of sister you want to have your back. This is also a prototypical book two in a trilogy, which is to say it serves as a bit of a bridge between books one and three.  While I do think you can probably read this as a stand alone - be advised it'll take a few chapters to get your sea legs. The reason for this? Decisions made and actions taken by the hero in the first book come home to roost.

Halfdan and Valda have just been married and older sister Brynhild is in a bit of a sour mood.  Oh, she doesn't begrudge Valda her happiness, but Brynhild still has her responsibilities, securing a farm for her mother and looking after their younger sister, Helga. Unfortunately she's not alone with her thoughts.  Halfdan's half-brother Erik the Black is trying to have a conversation with her.  While Halfdan was the heir, Erik was the illegitimate bastard their father enslaved. That should have sown bitter roots, but it didn't. The brothers are united in their loathing of Dear Old Dad. Erik is now a free man thanks to his brother, but part of Halfdan's plan to ride off into the sunset with Valda was to allow the escape of the Welsh princess his father wanted him to marry (alliances, yo).  The princess didn't want to marry Halfdan either, so when he presented her with a chance at freedom the girl didn't let moss grow under her feet.  What nobody really bargained on?  Her older brother. And just to prove how unhappy he is?  He kidnaps Helga.

Brynhild is beside herself. Helga gets taken on her watch, during a moment when she was distracted by Erik's mere presence. While their mother, Valda and Brynhild are all fierce warriors, Helga is not. She is the Earth Mother, rune caster, homemaker, gardener of the family and the only way to get her back is to find the runaway Welsh princess and take her back to her brother. That means Brynhild and Erik are now traveling together, and the simmering unrequited attraction between them is not so easy to dismiss.

Brynhild is my favorite sort of heroine. She's fierce and independent but hiding a vulnerable heart. She's a strong capable warrior, but is fully aware she is not the sort of woman men desire. She's heard her whole life some variation of "Wow, you're related to Valda/Helga? Really?!"  She knows she'll never marry, because not only is she the exact opposite of what most men want in a wife, she's not the sort of woman men even consider. Besides she never could see herself turning her life over to man, giving up her independence, plus her family needs her.

There was an incident between Erik and Brynhild when they were younger that Erik still deeply regrets, especially since he cares for her. But there was nothing for it. Erik was a slave, his father an odious man. Any sign of weakness was exploited. If Dear Old Dad had any indication whatsoever that Erik cared for Brynhild? It would have been disastrous for her and her family. So he cruelly pushed her away cutting her in a manner he knew would inflict the most damage - which it did. Now here he is, a free man, hopelessly smitten with a woman who looks at him like she just stepped in a pile of dung.

This story features a lot of my favorite tropes - the fierce yet vulnerable heroine, the smitten (and virginal!) hero desperate for a home to call his own, and a road romance.  I was predisposed to liking this almost from the jump.  That said, it sagged a bit in the beginning for me (the plot driving this romance is heavy with series baggage) and the ending?  Well, calling it a cliffhanger is a disservice, but it's also not entirely tidy.  Here's the thing - our couple ends up together. There is a happy ending. But what is driving this story is rescuing Helga. The author cannot entirely wrap up that bit of baggage because book three in the series is the romance between Helga and the Welsh prince who kidnaps her.  So yes, Erik and Brynhild declare their love for each other but it's very much a bridge book that connects the end of book one and presumably the events that will occur in book three to wrap it all up.

I do think this could be read as a stand-alone, so long as expectations are managed. You've got to get your sea legs in the beginning, and accept that the Helga storyline is left a bit dangley at the end.  But honestly, just read book one. It's good and Morris is the only romance author this year that I've read multiple books from (this was #3).   

Final Grade = B

Mini-Review: Best Friend to Doctor Right

Best Friend to Doctor Right by Ann McIntosh is the literary equivalent to mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese.  Basically, it's comfort food in book form. Like a warm fuzzy blanket wrapped around you on a cold, dreary morning. I didn't read this so much as inhale it.

Mina Haraldson was a talented surgeon until an accident crushes one of her hands and it has to be amputated. On top of that, she finds our her high school sweetheart husband has been cheating on her and wants a divorce. That divorce fires up Mina's blood and it carries her through for a hot minute, but now it's finalized, her hand is still amputated and she has no career. She's more than a little depressed.

Arriving on her Toronto doorstep is childhood friend, Dr. Hezekiah "Kiah" Langdon. They've been best friends and in each others' pockets since the day young Mina stood up for on-scholarship new kid Kiah at their posh private school. The Haraldson household was a sanctuary for Kiah growing up, his father dead from a heart attack and being raised by an emotionally abusive mother. He knows Mina is floundering and he's there to help her. He offers her a temporary teaching/consulting job at the hospital where he works on the Caribbean island of St. Eustace. This is her BFF Kiah, plus it's a miserable winter in Toronto and exactly what else does she have to do - so we're off to the races.

The romance is fairly straight forward. You have two friends who start to recognize their their feelings for each other are changing. The complication, of course, is not wanting to muck up the friendship and the fact that Kiah lives in St. Eustace and Mina still has a life (sort of) back in Toronto. Her gig on the island is temporary, a way to shake her out of her depression and help her recognize that while her surgery career is over, her doctor's mind wasn't amputated and she has a lot of to offer.

Kiah is also raising his niece after the death of his sister and brother-in-law (trigger warning: murder/suicide) and living with his grandmother. His relationship with his mother is non-existent, not wanting to expose his niece to her toxicity, but also because he feels she played a hand in his sister's death.  How? Well, this is less clear and my one quibble with this story.  Is Kiah's mother a self-absorbed, hateful bitch?  Yes. But beyond that? Not so sure. Mental illness is mentioned, but not with any depth or specific diagnosis and after a while she starts to read like an Evil Romancelandia Mother Bogeyman - with a lot of the Langdon Family Trauma being laid at her feet.  Look, I get it. Evil Romancelandia Mothers are basically their own trope, but I needed more. This aspect of the story felt a little too shallow.  I will say there is no miracle family reconciliation at the end (which, thank you sweet baby Jesus). Evil Mama stays firmly off page and there's no Kiah giving her a second (third, fourth etc.) chance and welcoming her back into his life or the life of his niece.

But, minor quibble. Harlequin Medical Romances are quick reads (on par with a Presents or Desire) and this was a comforting friends-to-lovers romance.  Even with the darker angsty edges peaking through I'd classify this as a feel-good story, one that was a lovely way to spend a quiet afternoon.

Final Grade = B